Benjamin Sherman Died In Afghanistan Trying To Save Another Soldier

As family and friends mourn a fallen U.S. paratrooper on Veteran's Day, his mother made an emotional plea to President Barack Obama that it's time to either bring home the troops or end the war in Afghanistan.

The body of Benjamin Sherman, 21, was recovered in Afghanistan Tuesday.

"It's time we do something. This has gone on too long. They either need to come home or we need to end it," a tearful Denise Sherman said.

Sherman was on his second tour of duty when he disappeared in Afghanistan last week during a mission to resupply troops in the western part of the country. He was a paratrooper with the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, based in Fort Bragg, N.C.

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His family said Sherman jumped into a river to try to help another soldier when both were swept away. He was missing for about a week. Dozens of troops searched frantically for Sherman and his comrade and found Sherman Tuesday. Sherman's family received the news on the eve of Veterans Day.

The South Shore native leaves behind a wife, Patricia, who is expecting their first child in just a few months. Sherman graduated from Plymouth South High School three years ago.

In a statement, his sister Meredith said she knows why he plunged into that river to save his struggling comrade. She said he didn't do it because he was trained to but because that's what his heart told him to do.

"My brother is the type of man whose main values are honor, respect and standing up for what you believe in. Yet, more importantly, he was all about brotherhood. He would consider every single soldier, friend or even a stranger his brother," she wrote in a statement confirming his death.

Denise Sherman added that her son was strong-willed, honorable and loyal.

Growing up, she said, they called him "the unstoppable one."

"I am requesting because we are One Nation under God that you ask for our nation to come together and pray. To pray for all who are missing to persevere, be found safe and returned home, for those have gone before us and have made their sacrifice to our country, for those who serve our great nation to be guided and protected," his mother wrote.

Denise Sherman urged the president to make a decision about the Afghan war.

"I think it is time that a decision is made that this country comes together and supports our troops or whatever (Obama) decides. God will guide him. But it is time. It is time," she said.

Sherman will be honored at Veterans Day services in New Bedford, where he was born, but his family is planning to bury him in Plymouth.